China awakens from SARS-induced torpor

"We have been successful in breaking the transmission of the virus between humans. But it doesn't mean that SARS is over yet."

Dr. Henk Bekedam, the WHO's China representative

The occasional bicycle bell cuts into the drowsy afternoon as Qiu Wei contemplates his next chess move. His opponent, Lin Qingjiang, sits across from him under the same leafy tree, enjoying the breeze from a nearby lake.

The friends have been playing regularly since SARS subsided and President Hu Jintao (胡錦濤) declared victory over the disease last month. Around them, the city is abustle: After an unsettling spell of eerily deserted streets, Beijing has come back to life in time to enjoy summer's waning weeks.

"It's almost like SARS never happened," said Qiu, a 20-year-old bar worker.

Beijing's sidewalks are brimming with shoppers and tourists, vendors and musicians and barbers -- none wearing the surgical masks that covered faces everywhere at the height of the outbreak. Shuttered cinemas and karaoke bars have reopened to long lines. Banners encouraging the public fight against SARS are gone.

But international health experts say no one should be declaring total victory. "We have been successful in breaking the transmission of the virus between humans. But it doesn't mean that SARS is over yet," said Dr. Henk Bekedam, the WHO's China representative.

Last week, to great fanfare, China's last two SARS patients were released from Ditan Hospital in Beijing, where half of the mainland's 5,300 infections and 349 deaths occurred.

"We have worked together. We have overcome fear," said Liu Jianying, Ditan Hospital's director. "Now we can conclude we have protected the people's health."

Hu's announcement on July 28 appeared to be the final reassurance many needed that life -- for now -- is back to normal. Tiananmen Square and the Forbidden City, Beijing's flagship sites, are once again full of camera-toting throngs. The capital's notorious traffic snarls are back, vexing millions.

Many buy the authorities' message: That a stout-hearted response by the Chinese people and their leaders got the job done.

"The government has controlled SARS well," Qiu concluded. "It shouldn't come back."

China was the worst-hit by SARS, which surfaced in November from the southern province of Guangdong. The Chinese government responded slowly at first, then launched a campaign to persuade its citizens and the world that it was taking the problem seriously.

More than 900 people died of SARS around the world before it ebbed in June. That was also when the WHO lifted a travel advisory to Beijing, the last place in the world to be removed from a list of cities where nonessential visits were discouraged.

Beijing's SARS Prevention and Treatment Office, which coordinated the city's disease-fighting efforts at the height of the epidemic, was shut down after Hu's speech.

"We did it because SARS is over," said Zhao Jingqing, a city government spokeswoman.

Not so fast, medical investigators caution. As the public's confidence returns, they are apprehensive because so much about SARS remains unknown -- its origins, what role animals played in its transmission and, most important, how likely it is to return.

Investigators believe SARS jumped from wildlife to humans in Guangdong, where consuming exotic creatures is traditionally considered a delicacy. A team of Chinese officials and UN and WHO investigators this month interviewed wildlife traders in Guangdong, trying to track where in the animal population the virus originated.

Chinese and international health officials emphasize that vigilance is needed.

"We're in a SARS era now," said Alan Schnur, a Beijing-based representative WHO representative.

In Beijing, that vigilance appears in small but telling ways.

Taxis, buses and other public areas are still being disinfected, although less frequently. Spitting is much rarer than it used to be. At the GL Cafe, a Hong Kong-style restaurant in Beijing, a dispenser filled with hand-sanitizing alcohol rub has been installed at the front door next to a sign: "Keeping clean is the responsibility of you and me."

"The sanitizer is very popular," said a cashier who would give only her family name, Li. "It's hard to tell if SARS will come back. But if it does, what's the use of being scared?"